Since 1979 the General Convention of The Episcopal Church has endorsed the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment. The proposed Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) states that the rights guaranteed by the Constitution apply equally to all persons regardless of their sex. After the 19th Amendment affirming women’s right to vote was ratified in 1920, suffragist leader Alice Paul introduced the ERA in 1923 as the next step in bringing "equal justice under law" to all citizens.

In 1972, the ERA was finally passed by Congress and sent to the states for ratification. The original seven-year time limit was extended by Congress to June 30, 1982, but at that deadline, the ERA had been ratified by only 35 states, three states short of the 38 required to put it into the Constitution. The ERA has been introduced into every Congress since the deadline, and beginning in 1994, ERA advocates have been pursuing two different routes to ratification:

the traditional process described in Article V of the Constitution(passage by a two-thirds majority in both the Senate and the House of Representatives, followed by ratification by three-quarters of the states), and

the innovative “three-state strategy” (ratification in three more of the 15 state legislatures that did not ratify the ERA in 1972-82, based on legal analysis that when three more states vote yes, this process could withstand legal challenge and accomplish ratification of the ERA).

On March 22, 2017, 45 years to the day after Congress passed the ERA, Nevada became the 36th state to ratify it. In 2017 ERA bills have also been introduced in the legislatures of Arizona, Florida, Illinois, North Carolina, Utah, and Virginia.

There is currently an Resolution (S.J. Res 5) to remove the deadline for ratification.This joint resolution eliminates the time limit for ratification of the equal rights amendment (prohibits discrimination on account of sex) proposed to the states in House Joint Resolution 208 of the 92nd Congress, as agreed to in the Senate on March 22, 1972. The amendment shall be part of the Constitution whenever ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the states.

People who are interested are asked to join in the #POWEROF10 movement.

Every Monday call Us Senator Chuck Grassley (202) 224-3744 and ask him to hold hearings on S.J. Res 5 - removing the deadline on the E.R.A.

Call 10 friends and have them call their 10 friends and Senator Grassley.